Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Ecclesiastes 9:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse sets a small city with few people against a great king, siege works, and overwhelming force.
A poor wise man delivered a city, and no one remembered
This verse is one part of that explanation in Ecclesiastes 9:13-18. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
Read Ecclesiastes 9:14 with 9:13-18. This verse sets a small city with few people against a great king, siege works, and overwhelming force. The full unit establishes this movement: A poor wise man delivers a vulnerable city yet is forgotten and despised; wisdom remains better than strength and weapons, but class and volume can silence it while one destructive actor undoes much good.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The story embodies the previous claim: wisdom can achieve rescue yet still fail to gain status, memory, or a lasting hearing. Within that movement, this verse sets a small city with few people against a great king, siege works, and overwhelming force.
What Remains True
Communities with limited power can face threats grossly larger than their resources.
How It Can Shape Life
- Assess defensive and humanitarian needs without equating military scale with moral right.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 — The Forgotten Poor Wise ManSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The vignette does not identify a historical war or endorse siege warfare.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, repeated-word, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Eccl.xml, 9:13-18
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Ecclesiastes with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, lexical, literary, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Ecclesiastes PDF, printed pp. 1216, translation and notes on 9:13-18
Open source ↗